Where one man's trash is . . . ONE TOWN'S REVENUE

There are 271 comments on the
Chicago Tribune
story from Jun 2, 2009, titled Where one man's trash is . . . ONE TOWN'S REVENUE.
In it, Chicago Tribune reports that:

As barbecue grills, bikes and an occasional lawn mower disappear from alleys in Evanston , officials are studying how to regulate "junk metal pirates." The scavengers often drive beater pickups and usually target discarded appliances and other castoffs.

I live in the city on the northwest side. Several times a day, scavenger pick-up trucks go through my alley. NEVER has anything been removed from my property except the stuff I put out by the garbage cans. These folks are just trying to scrape out a very meager living, so as long as they have insurance, can't we just leave them alone? The idea that Evanston wants to ding their residents $25 extra for a service for which they already pay taxes is not very...intellectual.

Wow...the city is whining because the scrappers are not only aiding in recycling but also reducing the work load of city garbage men.... Why do we elect these people? Does anyone else see how insane this is? I Guess we should do away with non government jobs to, because it takes away potential jobs government works could be doing.

if someone can make a living hauling away my junk for free, while saving me from paying another $25 bucks to the city, i am all for it! these folks have found a way to earn a living while performing a voluntary--and valuable--community service. the city should back off and let them work.

if evanston needs revenue,$89K is PEANUTS compared to the MILLIONS given away to greedy developers every year!

This must be Evanston's dumbest idea of the month! Don't Evanston leaders have more serious needs to handle such as stopping violent crime and making the city more livable. Get real or get another job!

Leave the guys alone. The only time I don't like them is when they park their full trucks on residential streets. But they are very helpful and I have never met one who wasn't polite. Bless them, they do a fantastic service in my northwest side neighborhood.

Give a poor taxpayer a break. Those very same scavengers hauled an old, non-functioning, rust-filled radiator out of my yard so I didn't have to haul the monster out to the alley so you could charge me $25 to pick it up.

Back off. These poor guys are trying to make a buck and they save your citizens a few bucks in the process.

This is SO Evanston. These liberal pukes will do anything for a tax payer's dollar. They are actually concerned that these scaverngers are taking CANS! Oh no!!! And, if you don't want your lawn mower to get taken, don't leave it unattended in an alley, you dope! The people of E-Town have way too much time on their hands.

if someone can make a living hauling away my junk for free, while saving me from paying another $25 bucks to the city, i am all for it! these folks have found a way to earn a living while performing a voluntary--and valuable--community service. the city should back off and let them work.if evanston needs revenue,$89K is PEANUTS compared to the MILLIONS given away to greedy developers every year!hey there, aldermen? mayor tisdahl? can you HEAR this!? if not, you're not representing your constituents....

And it looks like they don't even need to charge that $25 bucks. They do it because they can.

A politician can't stand it, if taxpayers receive a service for free. These corrupt politicians want to regulate everything and everyone. Tax and charge fees for everything to support these leaches that feed off the working public.

The government doesn't want you to be independent, they dont want you to own a small business, they want you Dependant totally and fully on them. The Chicago politicians have successfully held the poverty vote for decades because they control basically the survival of anyone on welfare. If they stay in office, maybe more welfare is given out, if they dont, it is cut. Now obama wants to pay for college IF and only IF you pledge to work for the government for a length of time(who leaves the public sector for the private?) we will be slaves from cradle to grave.

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